Flir shares rally Tuesday following smartphone product announcements

View full sizeAn illustration of the FLIR ONE device in use on a smartphone, from the Flir website.Flir Systems Inc.

Investors boosted shares of Wilsonville-based Flir Systems
Inc., Tuesday after the company announced a pair of products that bring the
company's thermal imaging technology to consumer smartphones.

The company announced a pair of smartphone-oriented products
early Tuesday â a hardware piece it calls the Lepton camera core, and the FLIR
ONE device incorporating the core that attaches to Apple iPhone 5 and 5s. The devices enable consumers
to see images illuminated by their heat signatures, rather than by visible
light.

Flir spokesman Shane Harrison, who's helping man the Flir booth at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, said the FLIR ONE will be available late spring from retail outlets including Amazon and will be priced at $349.

Flir shares closed Tuesday at $31.80, up $2.80 or almost 10
percent. That restores most of the value lost in mid-October, when the company
announced a realignment that included consolidation of the company's laser
manufacturing business, layoffs and the
closure of six manufacturing plants in North America and Europe. Investors
hammered the company's shares after the news release, shaving roughly 13
percent from their value. They since have bounced around in the $29-$30 range.

Tuesday's product announcements follow by about a week a
report from Zack's Equity Research declaring the Flir "could
be a very interesting choice" for investors in the aerospace/defense industry
segment.